


but little do we know, the stars welcome him with open arms

by parknerish



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: A little bit of angst, Coming Out, Felix Hugo Fraldarius Being an Asshole, First Kiss, Gen, Getting Together, Hilda and Sylvain are such good friends and you can't tell me otherwise, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Soft Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Sylvain Jose Gautier Being An Idiot, The Great Fódlan Bakeoff (Fire Emblem), a small injury, platonic Hilvain, references to Miklan's abuse, references to childhood abuse, sylvix - Freeform, this was for the great fodlan bakeoff but i never finished it oops, yes the title is a cavetown lyric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:54:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27784048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parknerish/pseuds/parknerish
Summary: I’ve been in love with the same man for longer than I can remember.” They were words he’d never allowed himself to say out loud before. “There are many things my father will let slide, but marrying a man is not one of them.”“Sylvain…” Hilda didn’t look shocked at his words, though she did look sad. Sylvain filed away the knowing look for later. He looked away from her, swallowing around the lump in his throat.“I’ll have to produce an heir eventually, and the gossip at least sends the message to my father that I’m crazy about women.”~ in which Sylvain and Hilda flirt, have a deep conversation, and come out to each other. Followed by Sylvain and Felix finally getting their shit together.
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier, Marianne von Edmund/Hilda Valentine Goneril, Sylvain Jose Gautier & Hilda Valentine Goneril
Comments: 8
Kudos: 116





	but little do we know, the stars welcome him with open arms

Although he would deny it, Sylvain had a knack for drawing trouble. If you asked Felix, he’d look you straight in the eyes and tell you that Sylvain’s full name was Sylvain ‘Trouble’ Gautier. It’s why nobody would have been as worried when Sylvain was late coming back from his mission. They would normally just assume he had stopped to talk to some girls or something. If Hilda hadn’t been with him, that is. 

  
  


Hilda, though, reveled in the comfort of her own bed, and when she didn’t return, the worry began. The mission was a small one. A simple trip to some nearby ruins and back, with no trouble really expected. Sylvain had originally tried to get Felix to join him, but no amount of begging had worked.

“Fe, we’ll be back by the evening and you can train all night long.” He’d whined at the smaller man. 

Felix hadn’t been amused and had simply shrugged him off. He’d continued walking down the hall on his way to the training grounds, leaving Sylvain to chase after him.

“Yeah, and then on our way back, you’ll want to stop in the nearest town for a drink and to pick up girls and then we won’t make it back to the monastery until morning. No thanks.” Felix had said without slowing, and without waiting for a reply, he left Sylvain standing alone in the hallway. 

If the Professor hadn’t made it abundantly clear that Sylvain wasn’t allowed to go alone, he would have given up at that. As it was, he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. 

He was brainstorming ways to convince Felix to skip training just this once when another voice cut through the silence. He turned behind him to watch as Hilda approached, bouncing on her feet.

“What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours?” She said, smiling up at him and bringing him out of his thoughts. He mentally shook himself before putting an easy smile on his face.

“Just thinking about seeing your cute face. It appears the goddess heard my thoughts and answered my wishes.” He flirted shamelessly as Hilda’s smile brightened. 

“Ahh yes, I do believe I could be considered a gift from the goddess, but I’m not sure what makes you worthy of such a gift.” 

Sylvain had an answer on the tip of his tongue when an idea came to him. He looked down at the pink-haired girl, hoping she would hear him out. 

“Remember when I took the blame for all of those late library books?” He started, continuing when she nodded, “Well, I think you owe me.” Hilda began shaking her head before he even finished speaking. 

“Oh, I don’t think so. You already had me promise you three things.” She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms as she listed them. “Stop lying, take responsibility, and fall madly in love with you.”

“I don’t recall you falling madly in love with me.” 

“Who’s to say I haven’t?” Hilda stepped closer to him, smiling coyly up at Sylvain. He ignored her response.

“How about this. Instead of falling madly in love with me, I just need you to accompany me to an ancient ruin outside of the monastery. Simple.” 

“You know what? I just remembered how badly I hurt my arm earlier. There’s no way I’ll be able to travel in this state.” Hilda cradled her arm, feigning pain as she backed away slightly. 

“Even if that was true, I’m sure an arm injury wouldn’t affect your ability to walk too much, now would it?” When she didn’t answer, Sylvain continued. “Listen, I’ll do all the work. It’s just supposed to be a quick check around to make sure there aren’t any looters or gangs hiding.” 

“I won’t have to do anything?” She asked, letting go of her arm.

“Your only job is to be your gorgeous self.” He watched to see her reaction.

“Seems a little silly to bring me along for just that reason.” She shrugged.

“Didn’t you know that having a pretty girl like you around can raise morale?” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Also, I’m not allowed to go alone and I really need the extra brownie points.” 

After a tense few seconds of waiting, Sylvain let out a breath of relief when Hilda nodded. Convincing her was much easier than it would have been to convince Felix. He promised to tell her more details before he bounded away to finalize the plans with the

professor. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They set out the next morning on horses, weapons in hand. Sylvain hadn’t been lying when he said it was supposed to be a quick and easy mission. The ruins weren’t very far from the monastery and they had only been left unattended for a few months at the most, making it highly improbable that anyone had set up there. Before long, they were approaching the ruins.

There wasn’t much to look through. The town had been a small one, leaving behind a moderate amount of rundown buildings and rubble. They dismounted and left their horses behind at the edge of the ruins as they walked in, peeking inside of half standing buildings as they went. They listened closely for any sign of life and Sylvain was just about to turn around and call it a day when a crashing noise came from behind one of the buildings. Sylvain and Hilda looked at each other for a second before moving. Well, Sylvain moved while Hilda shrugged. 

“This is all you. I’m just here to raise morale.” She said, motioning for him to move. He rolled his eyes but did as asked. He began creeping towards the noise, his hand steady on his lance. He took a deep breath before rounding the corner, freezing at the sight before him. The tension fell from his shoulders as he let out a laugh, taking in the sight of the wild animals fighting. It was somewhat of a strange sight, a rat and a dog. He backed away from the scene and made his way back over to where Hilda waited, looking bored. He filled her in, becoming confused when she just laughed.

“Sylvain, you never told me you had family in this town!” She exclaimed before turning and heading back to the horses. Sylvain paused as he thought over her words.

“Is that an insult?” He asked the thin air, as Hilda was already too far to hear. “Wait, am I related to the rat or the dog?!” He yelled after her as he began to make his own trek to the horses. He never got an answer, other than Hilda’s lingering laugh. 

After finishing their inspection of the ruins in record time, only interrupted by the strange scene of the animals, Sylvain and Hilda were back on their horses.

“You know, I bet the professor would be impressed if we were able to check multiple ruins today.” Sylvain said, casually. Hilda huffed in response.

“My legs are tired. I might have even broken my ankle. Soo. Let’s head back.” Hilda said.

“Where’s your sense of adventure? Don’t you want to go exploring?” Sylvain whined, 

not wanting to head back to the monastery just yet.

“Not particularly, no.” She sighed as she looked at Sylvain’s puppy eyes. Maybe Hilda 

had a point when she compared him to the dog, if that was the animal she had been referring to. “Fine. But we better be back to the monastery by nightfall.”

“Great! I knew you had it in you,” he shot a smile her way, “Our date is going so well, don’t you think?” 

HIlda didn’t bother giving him a response as she kicked the horse and started away.

Sylvain rambled as they made their way out of the ruined town and to the next, barely paying attention to their surroundings as he flirted. That’s why he wasn’t entirely prepared when they were attacked by a band of thieves. One second, he was smirking down at Hilda, and the next, they were surrounded. 

The fight didn’t last long, no thanks to Sylvain and his lance. He’d gone to wield it, only realizing at the last second that he’d grabbed a rusted one, which was hardly an effective weapon. He’d barely defeated three thieves before he was being forced back, falling off his horse and onto his ass, his head ricocheting off the ground and his leg scraping against a jagged rock. 

He cursed as his vision swam and his leg ached.Wetness surrounded his aching leg as he took a moment to catch his breath, hoping that taking that moment wouldn’t cost him his life. Felix would never forgive him if it did. He’d bring him back from the dead just to kill him again. And make him train more. Felix was always complaining that Sylvain didn’t train enough. He smiled wryly at the thought of Felix as he let his eyes close. 

“Do I really have to do everything around here?” 

Sylvain forced his eyes open and looked up, pink hair swaying above him as he made out Hilda’s face. As she sighed and leaned down to help him sit up, he took note of the bodies lying around them. There were definitely more than the three he had dealt with. He made eye contact with Hilda and sent her a wobbly smile, ignoring the small trickle of blood on his cheek.

“My knight in shining armor.” He sighed dreamily, causing Hilda to roll her eyes. “Should I buy the ring now or later?”

“You’re impossible.” She said, letting go of him and standing. “I’m never going to marry you. Can you get up?”

He shook his head, trying to clear his vision as he placed one hand on the ground to push himself up. When he began to stand, he reached out to hold onto Hilda. Looking down, he took note of the long cut on his leg from when he fell. It was almost completely hidden by the blood still oozing from it.

“Girls like scars, right?” Hilda made a noncommittal hum, grimacing as she looked down at his leg. “Scars are super sexy. I’ll have all the girls running after me. Ha.” 

“Sure, if we ever make it back to the monastery. The horses got spooked and ran.”

Sylvain looked around as if the horses would magically reappear. When they didn’t, he groaned.

“This is disastrous,” he whined, missing Hilda’s abrupt turn of the head at his next words, “I’m gonna have to apologize to Marianne.” 

“Marianne? Why would you have to apologize to Marianne?” She asked, her voice 

a sounding weird.

“Dorte’s going to be so lonely without his friends!” Dorte was Marianne’s favorite horse, 

everyone knew, and Sylvain was just glad that he hadn’t lost Dorte himself. 

“You don’t have to apologize to Marianne about that.” Hilda brushed his concern off,

continuing, “We really are on our own for the way back though.” 

Sylvain pushed down his own panic and plastered on a smile. At least he had a

general idea of where they had come from.

“No worries. Next time I go to town, I’ll be able to tell the story of how we defeated a whole band of criminals and then had to make the long trek home by foot.” He grinned.

“I’m sure the girls will be hanging off of you.” Hilda rolled her eyes, smiling despite herself. Something about Sylvain could always make any situation seem better.

“I can’t wait.” Sylvain stepped forward, his smile faltering slightly as pain shot up his leg. He continued on as if he hadn’t felt a thing. He’d hidden far worse injuries in the past. Despite trying to hide his pain, Sylvain couldn’t help but to move at a slower pace than normal, though Hilda kindly didn’t mention it. Sylvain wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t notice, or because she knew he would rather pretend he wasn’t injured. Sylvain’s mind turned into a mantra of “one more step” as his leg began to feel almost numb to the pain. 

By the time they began approaching the original ruin, the sun was already setting. They would not be getting back to the monastery tonight. They both seemed to come to the same conclusion, and silently made their way into the ruins, finding shelter in one of the few buildings still standing. 

Sylvain had barely sat down and leaned his head against the wall before Hilda was snapping fingers in his face. He busied himself with pretending like he hadn’t jumped a little, tensing at Hilda’s hand on his leg. 

“Missing my attention already?” He said, smirking at Hilda despite the incessant need for sleep he suddenly felt.

“Oh, very much. You know I can’t go more than an hour without your attention on me.” She replied, causing him to huff out a laugh. “But seriously, you probably should stay awake after hitting your head that hard.” 

“In that case, what will you do to entertain me all night?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her, a small smile on his face.

“You’re crazy.”

“Only for you, baby.” 

She shoved him lightly, rolling her eyes as he laughed. They sat in silence for a few minutes as Hilda tore pieces of cloth from their uniforms to use as makeshift bandages. 

“I care about you, you know?” She said softly, not looking up from her focus on his wound. He stayed silent, eyes watching her in the dark, the only light coming from the fading sun outside.

“I haven’t been with anyone in awhile.” The words were out of his mouth before he had even finished thinking them. He cursed himself silently. He must have hit his head harder than he thought. He was suddenly grateful for the lack of light as he didn’t have to see Hilda’s reaction and Hilda couldn’t see the red blossoming on his cheeks.

“I’m not having sex with you.” She responded, her voice sounding more high pitched than normal as she quickly retracted her hands from where they had been working on his leg.

“I don’t want to have sex with you.” Sylvain said. He left it at that, not sure what else to say. It was the truth, and that was more than what he usually gave. They were both silent for another moment.

“All those girls you’ve gone out with recently though…” Hilda trailed off and Sylvain answered her unspoken question as she got back to work, tying the cloth around his leg. 

“People like to gossip and I let them. Every girl wants to be able to say they slept with a noble. Plus, it’s kind of funny to see how pissed my father gets that I’m still spending all my time ruining the family’s reputation.” Sylvain closed his eyes again as he spoke, his voice soft. He wasn’t sure why he was saying all of this. Perhaps one of the thieves had hit him with some type of truth serum. Or maybe he really had hit his head hard enough to scramble his brains a little. In a way, it was kind of a relief to talk without worry.

“But it’s all a lie?” Hilda asked. He opened his eyes and turned to her.

“I’ve been in love with the same man for longer than I can remember.” They were words he’d never allowed himself to say out loud before. “There are many things my father will let slide, but marrying a man is not one of them.” 

“Sylvain…” Hilda didn’t look shocked at his words, though she did look sad. Sylvain filed away the knowing look for later. He looked away from her, swallowing around the lump in his throat. 

“I’ll have to produce an heir eventually, and the gossip at least sends the message to my father that I’m crazy about women.”

He kept his eyes fixated on where Hilda’s hand rested, inches away from his cloth covered leg. He hoped his breathing wasn’t as heavy as it felt. After a few moments, Hilda spoke. 

“Why don’t you tell him?” 

His breath caught at the question. Somehow, Sylvain knew she wasn’t talking about his father. Why didn’t he tell Felix? It was a question he had asked himself many times, and he’d come up with the same answer each time. 

“He doesn’t care for romance. He’s devoted to his training and his training alone. He always has been. As children, before the war, during the war. Training is his constant.” Sylvain smiled sadly at her, having already accepted this long ago. She looked back at him with a strange look on her face. Sylvain tried not to read too much into the look, for fear of getting his hopes up yet again. 

“I think you’d be surprised. Training probably hasn’t been his only constant all these years.” 

He didn’t respond, leaning his head back against the wall again. Hilda moved to sit next to him, keeping a hand on his leg. 

“I felt a similar way about my girlfriend.” She said as she double checked his wound to make sure it had stopped bleeding. Sylvain lifted his head to stare at Hilda, surprised by the turn their conversation had taken. 

“Girlfriend?” He said, proud of himself that his voice was even. Hilda smiled at him, a real genuine smile on her face.

“Yes.” She didn’t elaborate and he didn’t ask her to, stuck in his own thoughts about Felix and the future. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the time the monastery was in sight the next morning, Sylvain was sure his leg was going to fall off. What had started as a dull ache when they had begun their trek had turned into a ceaseless sharp pain. What little healing magic Sylvain had been able to muster on his own hadn’t done much to help. Though Hilda had done her best to bandage him up the night before, neither of them were actually healers. 

The truth of the matter was that it would have been a minor injury, easy to heal if he’d had Mercedes with him. But now, going on almost a whole day letting the injury sit, he couldn’t help but feel like it was getting worse. He’d still had far worse injuries in the past, but all of those had been healed as soon as somebody other than Miklan learned of them. 

He clenched his teeth as he attempted to walk normally, wanting to present some semblance of normalcy if anybody was waiting for them. Never mind the fact that a large cut through his pants and a makeshift bandage wrapped around his leg probably ruined the image already. 

Not ten feet away from the monastery gate, Sylvain caught a flash of dark hair as a body barrelled into him. He wasn’t quite sure if Felix was trying to hug him or hit him. THe latter was more likely. As soon as the man pulled away, Sylvain was staring into his glaring eyes.

“Oh hey, Fe. Turns out you were right and I didn’t make it back by night.” He said, letting out a small laugh. Impossibly, Felix’s glare became harder. 

“You’re such an idiot, what were you thinking?!” Sylvain blinked as he was bombarded by Felix’s words.

“Well-” 

“Do you know how worried everyone was? How worried I-” Felix cut himself off as Sylvain stared at him in shock. “Why are you even walking on your own?” Felix turned his glare to Hilda after that, clearly blaming her for Sylvain’s stupidity. Still too surprised and taken aback by Felix’s obvious worry, Sylvain didn’t have the strength to tell him that Hilda _had_ helped him walk for most of the trek. His pride had made her let go when they got in sight of the monastery. 

Sylvain took a few seconds to revel in the fact that Felix was showing actual worry. Well, as much worry as someone like Felix would show outright. He was almost lightheaded with the revelation, or maybe he was just lightheaded due to their trek and his leg. 

He didn’t really have time to ponder it before he was grunting and his leg was collapsing. The last thing he heard before hitting the ground was a scream of his name from a voice that sounded suspiciously like Felix. How wonderful it was to know Felix cared.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sylvain didn’t know what time it was when he woke up, only that it must be night because the infirmary was quieter and darker than it was during the day. He struggled to open his eyes and let out a quiet yawn before registering the heat touching him on his right side. 

Slowly, he turned his head to stare down at his hand, which was being clasped by another. His breath caught as his eyes slowly raked their way up to the dark-haired man the hand belonged to. 

Felix had his other arm tucked under his head, which was resting pressed up against Sylvain's shoulder on the bed. His hair was still up in a bun, though quite a few strands had slipped out. Sylvain slowly tried to regulate his breathing as his head spun, mind working a thousand miles a minute trying to make sense of what he was seeing. Felix was here by his side, sleeping next to him in the infirmary after hours. Not only that, but he had fallen asleep holding Sylvain’s hand. _He was holding Sylvain’s hand_. 

Sylvain’s breath was shaky as he thought back to Hilda’s words from the night before. _I think you’d be surprised,_ she’d said. Did Felix.. _could_ Felix possibly care about him in that way? He racked his brain for other occurrences that could support the thought, coming up blank. Maybe he still wasn’t thinking right. It’d only been a little more than 24 hours since he’d hit his head. 

There was nothing special about the way Felix treated him. Felix would be worried about any of his friends after they got hurt. Except..he didn’t sleep next to them. He didn’t hold their hands as he slept. Not that Sylvain knew of. It was just Sylvain he was doing that for. Just Sylvain. 

Sylvain let the hope slowly grow inside him, praying to the goddess that he wasn’t misinterpreting this. He wasn’t particularly religious but this was a special circumstance and he wasn’t sure if he could afford to get his hopes up and have them crushed. Not right now.

Heart in throat, Sylvain slowly curled his fingers to wrap around Felix’s and squeezed, nudging Felix’s head slightly as he did so. Felix had been a heavy sleeper when they were children, but that had changed as they grew up. Now, Felix woke at the slightest hint of trouble or movement. Sylvain felt it when Felix began to wake, his hand squeezing Sylvain’s back unconsciously. 

Sylvain held his breath as Felix tensed, head shooting up and hand moving out of Sylvain’s. Sylvain made a split second decision, maintaining his grip on Felix’s hand even as the man tried to pull it back. Felix’s eyes shot up to Sylvain’s, a blush overcoming his face even as he glared.

“Fe.” Sylvain said, not sure what he planned to say next.

“Shut up.” It wasn’t a surprising response from Felix, but Sylvain still recoiled a little, breaking eye contact. He felt Felix relax slightly next to him, and when he chanced a look back, the glare was gone, replaced with an expression Sylvain couldn’t quite read.

“Felix, I-” Sylvain started again, only to be interrupted again.

“I said _shut up_.” The words were less harsh this time, overshadowed by the shakiness in Felix’s voice. Sylvain stared at him, then down at their hands where Felix had begun to slowly brush his thumb across Sylvain’s knuckles. Sylvain wasn’t sure if Felix even realized he was doing it. 

Sylvain wasn’t sure what to say. Nothing, probably, if he didn’t want to get punched. Felix had already warned him to shut up twice, after all. After a few minutes of nothing but both of their shaky breaths, Sylvain couldn't stop himself from speaking.

“It was just a flesh wound.” He said, weakly, not even attempting to hold on this time when Felix snatched his hand away and glared. Even Sylvain knew that it was the wrong thing to say. He slowly moved himself to be sitting up, the pain in his leg healed to just a soreness. Felix didn’t stop him, but he didn’t help him either.

“A flesh wound that was badly infected, you idiot.” 

“Oh.” 

“Yeah, _oh_. You’re so stupid. The biggest fool in Fodlan.” The words were lacking the usual bite, and Sylvain thought just maybe they were laced with endearment instead. Maybe that was what prompted his next words.

“Your fool, though.” He said, quietly. So quietly that he wouldn’t have been sure Felix heard him if not for the audible intake of breath. Sylvain watched as Felix’s cheeks burned red and his mouth opened and closed several times before clearing his throat.

“Yeah, you are.” He said, simply. Sylvain couldn’t quite hold back his smile and when he looked at Felix, he was sure there was a matching one hiding behind Felix’s pride. He slowly reached out a hand, cupping Felix’s face and tilting it up to search Felix’s eyes. He had the same unreadable expression from before, but this time, Sylvain thought he might know what it meant.

“Please don’t punch me for this.” He said, pulling Felix closer as he leaned in to push their lips together. Despite his plea to Felix, Sylvain stayed tense for a few seconds as he waited to see whether Felix would still hit him. When Felix relaxed into him instead, he sighed against the man’s lips and began to kiss him properly. 

All at once, it was everything Sylvain had ever dreamed of. There were no sparks, no magic, but he was kissing the love of his life for the first time and it was everything. Sylvain let himself relax into Felix’s arms as the man’s arms came up to wrap around his shoulders and pull him closer. Felix’s lips were confident and fierce against his, and of _course_ they were because that’s who Felix was. He couldn’t have imagined it any other way. Felix nipped at his lower lip and Sylvain gasped against his mouth. Goddess, all he could think about what how much he loved this man. 

When they pulled apart, Felix finally let down his guard, letting a small smile shine through. Sylvain leaned back onto the bed, pulling Felix with him despite his protests. There wasn’t a chance Sylvain was letting him go. Not tonight, or any night.

“What if Mercedes comes back?” Felix said, though he didn’t move away from Sylvain’s embrace. He let his head rest against Sylvain’s chest, careful not to put any weight on the newly healed leg.

“Fe, it’s the middle of the night. It’s fine.” 

His hand found it’s way to Felix’s hair, where it delicately undid what’s left of the bun. His hand shook a little as he did something he’d always thought about doing. The hair beneath his hand was soft as he brushed through it over and over. They laid in silence for a few moments before Sylvain’s whisper cut through the room.

“Stay with me.” He tightened his arm around Felix just slightly as the man tucked his face in Sylvain’s neck, lips brushing his throat.

“You’re stuck with me, idiot.” 

  
  



End file.
